nelson mandela meant everything in my life. like many other young activists, he was our touchstone, north star and somebody whose moral example really stirred my sense of how ordinary people can do extraordinary things if they have valued sense of politics. i'll never forget the time i was able to spend with him both in new york and then in south africa, 23 years ago. and i'm going through everything i can as u.s. representatives to help carry forth that legacy. >> and you first met mr. mandela right after being released from jail. you were in a room alone with him. tell me about that moment. you're young, 20 and impressionable and looking for your place and 20 years later you would be the ambassador for south africa. what happened in that room? >> really pretty incredible to me and hilarious in retrospect. this was immediately after the ticker tape parade we had and i escorted him into city hall, and next i knew we were alone. i discovered in moments of silence, had a weightiness to him. i was probably staring at him awe struc